Coceres opens up four shot lead

Jose Coceres's winter work-out and his ability to keep the ball below a changeable wind, saw the 36-year-old Argentine master an all-day storm on Friday to grab the lead on his own in the Desert Classic second round.

Coceres had proved he could play the Creek course in the first round when he and Briton Lee Westwood broke the course record with 64s. Then Coceres proved he could beat the wind.

While Westwood lost his way occasionally as the infamous Shimal wind constantly swirled, causing the Englishman to run up two double-bogeys, a tougher and wilier Coceres produced a solid three-under-par 69 to move to 11-under-par 133 and into a four-shot lead.

Another player to master the Shimal was Britain's Jamie Spence. The England player did even better than the leader as he again showed he is a great wind player, returning a 67 for 137 in the morning to hold the lead until Coceres took to the course in the afternoon.

Four birdies with just one bogey kept Coceres on track for only his second win on the European Tour, six years after his sole victory in the Catalan Open.

"We don't get much chance to play in strong winds like this in Argentina," said Coceres after being buffeted by winds gusting over 50 mph. "So it's not that I have learned to play the wind.

"But my working out when I took three months off from tour, have meant I've come to my first event of the season a stronger person.

"I'm stronger mentally, too, and that helped with the wind. I worked the ball left and right and kept my concentration all the way round.

"Hitting the ball low helps tremendously as well."

The Argentine also drew on his memory banks to help him. "This wind wasn't as bad as in 1996 at Carnoustie in the Scottish Open, that was the windiest. I don't remember my scores -- only that I suffered."

Spence, who fashioned his early lead on five consecutive birdies, is hoping for a better result than eight years ago in a similar desert storm.

Said Spence: "Eight years ago I had a terrific round in an even stronger wind in the Moroccan Open and I got to eight-under. The nearest player to me in my side of the draw was three-over. But then the wind dropped in the afternoon and I lost by a shot."

Former Ryder Cup Dane Thomas Bjorn, veteran Spaniard Jose Rivero and two more Britons, Greg Owen and Paul Affleck, share third place on 138 but Westwood has now slipped back to a tie for seventh place after his 75, 11 shots worse than his opener.

"I thought I was going to be okay when I birdied the first," said a chastened Westwood, "but it was a 50-yard wind. You could suddenly hit it 50 yards too long or 50 yards short, depending how it suddenly veered. It was the way it kept changing direction suddenly that made it so difficult."

Matchplay World Champion Darren Clarke, trying to get over jet-lag and a hectic schedule since defeating Tiger Woods on Sunday night, said he was happier with his swing but still tired after having his night's sleep interrupted by his hotel's fire alarm. The night before the Irishman was woken in the early hours by an unrequested alarm call.

Clarke improved with a 70 to be eight off the pace with British Open Champion Paul Lawrie. Both visiting Americans, Mark O'Meara and Justin Leonard, are 12 shots behind.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page